Onebrow

You’ve been in Perth too long. “Due to a fatality at a level crossing, the line has been closed at Stirling,” says the conductor. You sit and wait for instructions. “The line will be closed for up to eight hours, please wait while we organise alternative transport”, half an hour goes by as you sit and wait and wonder. “The line has opened” comes the good news and the train starts to leave the station. The train stops. You arrive back in Perth to be told to get off the train and go to platform six. You find yourself on a train to Edinburgh. You’re trying to keep Laura informed, you’ve told her to find a way to Glasgow. You can only imagine how confusing the stream of messages is. 

All of a sudden you find yourself in your hometown, it’s eight and you wanted to be in Glasgow by now. Instead you’re 45 miles south of your starting point, some 30 miles south east of your previous station. It’s 30 minutes to Edinburgh and another hour to Glasgow, your heart sinks and you wish you’d just gone home.

When you switch trains in Edinburgh, you’re informed by the conductor that the track has re-opened at Stirling. You curse your luck and sit there stewing away. Still, you are not outwardly agrieved like most others. You accept your fate. “You get a few of these at this time of year,” says the conductor. “It gets near Christmas and people…” he trails off. He has no way of knowing its suicide, nor does anybody else. You suspect he’s right nonetheless.

You arrive in Glasgow and you’re angry. Angry because its taken over three and a half hours to make a journey that’s an hour and a half. Angry because you don’t like missing support acts. Guilty because you know you’re angry because somebody lost their life. 

You reach your gig, you’ve not missed the main acts. You sink a pint to make you feel better. It doesn’t. You have another anyway, hoping this time it might make a difference. Your singer cheers you up. You’re about to tell the idiot in the second row to shut up. “Shut up and show some respect,” you think to yourself. He leaves just as you pluck up the courage to do something. You get your book signed by your singer. He’s a long way from home and you know this cheered him up. 

The main act comes on and you forget all about your earlier woes. They work their magic, make you feel like this moment is all that matters. They laugh and smile and play and you listen and sing.

One life. Three and a half hours. Two acts. You go home and there are no problems now.

So, things have been a little quiet here recently. It’s not because of a lack of things to write about either, I have plenty of things that I want to give my opinion on. Sadly though, it has not been possible. University has been so incredibly busy, it’s unreal.

In theory, I shouldn’t be quite so busy from now on. In reality I’m probably going to be spending most of my days and nights working away in the labs still. While onemajor time sink at university finished, that has meant it’s time to start the mad struggle to catch up with everything else. Regardless, I hope to have more time to post here in the near future.

In other news, I am now no longer able to even pretend to myself that I’m not an honest to goodness adult. At first I was convinced being 21 makes no difference, but I think psychologically it probably does. That’s weird though, it is only a number afterall.

So now I’ve been tagged by both doctorvee and Jack Deighton on this one, I feel kind of obliged to at least post this. I was reticent to post this when first tagged, largely because for most of them my answer is a very boring “wasn’t born” or “too young to remember”. I will however try my best.

Princess Diana’s death - 31 August 1997

As doctorvee covered, I had gone into his room to play something on the Playstation. (Actually I’d hazard a guess at Mega Drive, unless Formula 1 98 was released very early). Regardless I’d gone into his room to play some sort of computer game. Back then we shared a TV between us. When I switched the TV on, I was immediately aware that something was not right. All 4 channels had news on; this was unusual. They didn’t talk about who it was for ages, I remember a good half hour of waiting for them to indicate who was involved.

Margaret Thatcher’s resignation - 22 November 1990

I think this can be succinctly summed up with the following: I was three. Not long three as well, chances of remembering this are slim. I’d hazard a guess though, that seeing as I was too young for nursery, I was most likely at home.

Attack on the twin towers - 11 September 2001

I was at school, completely oblivious to the events. My teachers certainly hadn’t told us what was going on and I’m not even sure they knew. It’s entirely possible that had my teacher not left their room, they wouldn’t know what was going on either. When I got home I sat in my living room with my family, watching the BBC news feed. I remember being a bit dumbfounded that something so inconceivable had occurred. It seems much longer than seven years ago now…

England’s World Cup Semi Final v Germany - 4 July 1990

This receives a very similar answer to the Margaret Thatcher situation, only this time I was two. It’s hard to say exactly what I was doing. Once more I suspect I was at home, perhaps the match was on in the room I was in. I can’t say for sure.

President Kennedy’s Assassination - 22 November 1963

This occurred so long before I was born it’s not even funny. It’s getting towards a quarter of a century.

I’m going to be that guy that doesn’t tag anybody. Yeah, that guy.

With this album, context is important. Silent Alarm put Bloc Party firmly on the map with what at the time soudned like an astonishing record. With time though, the album sounds distinctly two dimensional. It’s a brilliantly focussed record, and one that I love, but the songs just don’t have a lot of depth, or texture. When their second album A Weekend In The City was released, it initially seemed amazing. However with time, the album revealed itself to be a little top heavy and the second half of that album is generally regarded to be below par. A shame, because much of the work in the early half of the album is stunning.

So what expectations can you have when the new album is shock released, prefaced only by Mercury; a song which divided Bloc Party’s fanbase in two. Mercury with it’s mashed up vocals, up front drums, synth noises and brass instruments was the perfect example of a marmite song. It’s tempting to say that your opinion of Mercury is likely to give you an idea of what you think of the album, but that’s not quite true. The focus certainly isn’t exclusively on guitars in this album, though Bloc Party were always quite good at shifting the focus. Inevitably most peoples’ memories of Silent Alarm will be of one of those amazing guitar hooks.

I imagine the siren like guitar hook of Ares may have the alarm bells ringing for many. Particularly when the rest of the track comes on a bit like an awesome version of The Chemical Brothers. It’s an amazing assault of lyrics, squeals, guitar and synth stabs; all anchored by a slightly tinny drum beat. In short, it’s awesome. Similarly Trojan Horse assaults the senses. Sounding like a crazy sonic version of sparklers mixed with the sound effects from a bad science fiction film. Only not quite, somehow under it all it manages to be a guitar led tune, much more in keeping with old Bloc Party than at first apparent. The back end of the song comes on almost like a new take on Postive Tension, a cast iron Bloc classic. One Month Off is in a similar vein to  Trojan Horse, only much more visceral. It’s perhaps the most exciting track vocally from a traditional point of view.

Halo initially seems like it’s harking back to the Silent Alarm era and getting it all wrong. In short, there’s too much distortion. However the classic trick of suddenly breaking it down to guitars and bulding the song back up works its magic. Suddenly that trademark clean guitar sound re-appears, before the drums kick everything towards a scintilating conclusion.

Sandwiched between Halo and Trojan Horse is the song I’m tempted to call the centre-piece of the album. Biko is a very delicate guitar tune, with a focus not only on the main vocals; but also the ones that jump in saying “You’re not doing this alone,” these dance between your speakers, making for a truly interesting effect. By the time the beats drop in, and yes that’s beats, the song already feels magic. It feels like they managed to re-imagine their old delicate songs, but with a spin lifted from Thom Yorke’s The Eraser. Signs is another re-imagining of a slow Bloc Party song and comes with quite simply the most beautiful glockenspiel introduction I have ever heard.

Another song which includes prominent electronics is Zephyrus. It also features that oft used trick of using vocals as an instrument, with a few vocal loops staying throughout the length of the song. It also feature excellent use of a choir, which while almost making it sound like something out of Final Fantasy VIII; also ensures it’s utterly captivating. The choir gives the song a textural depth and emotional weight it wouldn’t otherwise have had. Towards the end of the song the quiet extra vocal trick from Biko re-appears, once again to great effect.

Better Than Heaven and Ion Square probably offer the strongest ending of a Bloc Party album to date. Silent Alarm struggled, stringing Plans and Compliments together where perhaps Compliments could have ended the album and Plans could have been utilised elsewhere in the album. The entrire back half of A Weekend In The City lacks weight, being mostly comprised of ballads. Intimacy doesn’t make this mistake. Better Than Heaven is dark, with an exciting end. Ion Square is a typically uplifting final track. It is worth noting though perhaps, that these two tracks still probably represent the weakest tracks on the album.

That’s not a criticism however, it merely shows the quality of the rest of the album. I can’t wholeheartedly reccomend the album to fans of older Bloc Party off by Mercury. Furthermore the album isn’t as revolutionary as Ares and Mercury suggests. This is not Bloc Party’s Kid A, though it seems evident they intend to evolve their sound to the point where they make that record. Evidently though, they’ve lost a lot of shock value with this album, by already showing they’re going in that direction. The shift will never be as seismic as that between OK Computer and Kid A.

Still, that’s a consideration for another time. This is a fantastic album that I would love to recommend to everybody, though I suspect if you didn’t like Mercury, you’ll find the album as a whole difficult to get in to at first, if you can get in to it at all.

Geometry wars is gaming at its purest and game design at its best. A bold statement surely? Well following on from my last post, here is my explanation for that bold statement.

Geometry wars is a brilliantly balanced game, built on a few rules. It’s a twin stick shooter, so you use the left analogue stick for movement and the right analogue stick for shooting. This gives you remarkable freedom in both movement, and direction of your shots. Importantly you don’t need to be facing in the direction in which you are shooting. You start with 3 ships and 3 bombs. Bombs are your only other weapon and clear the screen when used. You gain an extra ship every 75,000 points and an extra bomb every 100,000 points. This naturally makes bombs a scarecery resource, but not necesarilly more important than lives. You see, as you destroy your enemies; you gradually increase a score multiplier. Upon the loss of a ship this multiplier is reset to 1, decreasing the value of each enemy you kill; making a high score more difficult. That’s all you need to know about you and your ship.

You have a rectangular area in which to move around in. This is importantly marginally bigger than the size of your screen, meaning occasionally enemies will spawn out of sight. (But not as I will reveal later, out of mind). That’s the play (or should I say game?) area defined.

Enemies. Enemies come in a number of different types, which I will outline below. Firstly though, it is important to note that each enemy has its own unique sound which plays as spawns.

Wanderer: A purple enemy, shuriken like in appearance. Moves slowly and randomly about the level. Worth 25 x multiplier, points.

Grunt: A blue diamond like enemy. Moves relatively quickly and directly towards the player’s ship. Worth 50 x multiplier, points.

Weaver: A green square. Moves quickly towards you, but is scared of your bullets and thus dodges them. Worth 100 x multiplier, points.

Spinner: Pink square. Moves quickly towards you, but splits up releasing small spinners when you hit it with bullets. Worth 100 x multiplier, points.

Small Spinner: Smaller variant on the spinner which is released when a Spinner breaks up. Moves qucikly towards you, in an orbit around the spinner’s original trajectory. Worth 50 x multiplier, points.

Gravity Well: Does not have a gravitional effect until activated by a bullet. It then starts to pull in other enemies (and your ship if you aren’t carfeul). Eventually explodes upon swallowing enough enemies, unless shot by you. Worth base points modified by number of enemies eaten x multiplier, points.

Proton: Small blue circle, released when a gravity well explodes. Very fast. Worth 50 x multiplier, points.

Snake: Orange snake with blue head. Can only be destroyed by shooting it in the head. Moves towards you in a snake-like fashion. Worth 150 x multiplier, points.

Repulsar: Red enemy that looks like another space ship. Very fast. Moves directly towards you and has a shield in font, meaning it is easier to kill from the side. Worth 150 x multiplier, points.

Mayfly: Tiny enemies, which swarm from all four corners of the play area at once. They move fast and come in huge swarms. Worth 10 x multiplier, points.

That’s it. There are a few little touches, for instance the gravity well gets smaller as you shoot it, everutally to the point where its force of gravity bends your bullets around it from distance, meaning you have to get closer to finish it.

These ingredients are mixed and matched to create organic fights, where you quickly become outnumbered. A game will usually start with a number of wanderers and grunts and ramp up adding enemies roughly in the order they are presented here. The way the enemies all attack you in different ways keeps you on your toes and is really interesting. Instead of being merely a twitch shooter, Geometry Wars quickly becomes a game of strategy. Each new sound heralding the appearance of an enemy has you constantly prioritising and re-prioritising your targets. This extends to the gravity well’s wailing gradually growing to a high pitch which lets you know that if you don’t deal with it soon, it will explode, sending protons your way.

When you combine these base mechanics, with the fact that each enemy makes a pretty explosion when you kill it, you quickly have something really compelling. The amazing light show that is Geometry Wars in full flow is an extra reward for doing well, on top of your ever increasing score. This re-inforcement is a touch of genius. As is the subtle dance track in the background, which keeps a constant pace and rythmn, mimicking that of the eventual game.

The killer touch, is the pseudo-randomness. Geometry Wars is a random game within certain parameters. The enemies don’t spwan identically each time, rather they spawn similarly enough to make the game seem fair; while being different enough to make each game its own experience. The way the simple rules of the game combine within the game to produce dynamic, exciting situations is remarkable.

And the touch of real genius, the thing that shows how much thought went into the game, is the mapping of the bomb on the controller. The bomb is mapped to the triggers, which have a lot of play before they fully activate; meaning it takes a crucial split second longer to unleash a screen clearing, life and multiplier saving bomb. It’s devious genius, but never feels unfair.

This simplicity and clarity of thought is why it is gaming at its purest and game design at its best.

Humans, more particularly adults, rarely play. Play is unstructured. A good example of this, is that if you give two people a ball they might kick it about. As soon as these people think about structure, perhaps say a scoring system, this becomes a game. The thing is, games are all about rules and possibilities. As humans, we like possibilities. Unfortunately we don’t like infinite possibilities, if everything is possible; there are no rules. With no rules, there are no goals and we like goals much more than we like possibilities. You see goals give us a chance to improve, better ourselves and also to compete. As humans, we like to feel that we have improved ourselves in some way. More than this though, our egos appreciate the opportunity to prove that we are better than other people. Games with rules, allow us to do this. Play does not.

Back to possibilities, it is actually much more interesting to restrict the number of possibilities available. With fewer possibilities it becomes possible to comprehend what is possible and it becomes easier to master the available possibilities. Rules allow this restriction of possibility and many of the greatest games have simple, yet robust rule sets. In reality, chess has very few rules. Chess in fact, probably hits the sweet spot in terms of restriction of possibility. Because the rules restrict what is possible, it becomes not only easy to understand the game, but also easy to predict what may happen. The trick is that it is impossible to know how a game will play out. No matter the standard of two players, they will each have their own unique style. Even accounting for this, there is a certain randomness to even the most carefully considered play.

Rules are the most important thing about games. It’s why our games often have some sort of independant authority, who ensures that the rules are being properly followed. You see if there’s one thing that can ruin a game, it is inconsistencies in how its rules are enforced. Computer games in particular fall foul of this. It is not unusual to find gamers almost universally deriding certain sections of games. This is often because the game has broken its own rules, making its world less believable and breaking the sense of immersion. The best games have rules which are enforced correctly every time.

Not only this, the best games have rules which allow the game to border on chaos, without ever reaching it…

I just finished up a marathon session on Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. I beat my high score twice, the second time I hit 999,075. Had I hit just one more enemy, one more, I would have been guaranteed to hit 1 million points. Had that happened, I would have earned another achievement; adding to my Gamerscore. This got me thinking about gamers, gaming, play and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. I think you know what’s coming…

After thoroughly enjoying both the gameplay and the storytelling in last year’s hit game Mass Effect, I decided to give the prequel novel a try. Several factors affected my decision to do so. I am not normally the sort of person who would enjoy the fiction associated with series spawned in other media. I find that the defining features of a medium generally dictate a certain style of storytelling, this does not always translate well to written fiction. This is perhaps most clearly the case with computer games. Computer games as a medium dicatate a certain focus on action, and interaction, that does not suit written fiction, or indeed any other medium. In this case however I was willing to give Mass Effect: Revelation a shot based on the fact that it was written by the lead writer of the game and also the high quality of the writing in the game itself. Additionally, a recent foray into this sort of literature by way of Peter David’s excellent Babylon 5 novel The Long Night Of Centauri Prime, gave me some faith in this time of accompanying fiction. Again David is an excellent writer, well versed in that source material.

What I found, was pleasantly surprising in some respects; but also entirely what I expected in others. It is fair to say that the plot involves more than its fair share of action, perhaps a necessary evil, but I could have done with a little more story in around some of the action section. The story takes place a number of years before the game and focuses on the Spectre (a kind of intergalactic police man who is almost above the law) Saren and David Anderson, a member of Earth’s Alliance Military. As ever in these stories, we have a united Earth as part of a galactic Council made up of a number of different races. This offers up the standard pot shots at racism that you’d typically expect to find in such a novel. There was also the First Contact War, which involved the humans and Saren’s race; the Turians. Stop me if this is sounding a little too familiar…

For what it’s worth though, the story is quite interesting in parts. It really does set up the game’s plot in a fantastic way, with a lot of foreshadowing, particularly as the book reaches its closing stages. The book starts out with an attack on an Alliance colony and our hero David Anderson just happens to be part of the response team sent in to deal with it. From there we go to alien bars, alien planets, have the odd politics section and finally end up at the part of the story that’s alluded to in the game. David Anderson being considered as a member of Spectre, but being teamed up with Saren. Essentially the mission goes very right for Saren and very wrong for everyone else. Saren then goes on to pin the blame for the incident on Anderson.

In an odd way I’m fairly sure this prequel book is designed to be read after the events of the game have taken place. There’s a lot in the book that wouldn’t make sense without the context of the universe and I’m not sure that the book does enough to establish that universe by itself. The book reads well as something akin to a flashback sequence, filling out the backstory. I suppose that makes it a successful piece of accompanying fiction, but I can’t help but feel the story could have been expanded upon more in this form. I think it was perhaps slightly constricted by the fact it was being written as a prequel to a computer game, rather than a book.

Overall though, it was an enjoyable read. With the context of the events of Mass Effect it’s certainly veyr entertaining and succeeds in its task in revealing more about what happened between Anderson and Saren. It also sets up the events of the game very well, dropping just enough hints at what is to come to make things interesting. I’ll certainly keep an eye out for any future accompanying fiction for Mass Effect.

Well I’ve had a couple of listens now and it’s fair to say that I think I really like it. My reaction so far can be summed up by the following.

First listen = “What the hell was that?”

Second listen = “Wow, awesome.”

On first listen it’s very definitely a bit much, it comes at you from a direction you don’t quite expect. On second listen it’s all started to make a bit more sense and I can really appreciate that this album will take a long time to digest.

Stand out tracks so far are Biko, Signs and Zephyrus. Signs has the best glockenspiel in music ever. Zephyrus somehow manages to sound like something from Final Fantasy VIII and get away with it.

This is definitely one for the good headphones and a bit of a chin stroke.

(Check out my claim for the best glockenspiel in music ever at myspace.)

Given the recent run of bad news about bands I’m in to, this piece of news went down very well indeed. Yesterday, Bloc Party announced that their third album, Intimacy, is to be released on the 27th of October. More importantly however, they announced that if you choose to pay just £2 extra (a total of £10) you can receive the album digitally on Thursday. This was an easy price for me to pay.

Given my love of the recently released single Mercury, I fully expect to enjoy this album. Hopefully it’ll live up to my expectations. Expect impressions some time in the next few weeks. The next week might be a bit hectic and may prevent activity here.